Chapter 7: Know When To Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em (Gambit)
Gambit goes looking for Nori after breakfast. He isn't exactly sure what Magneto has told her, but after seeing Magneto's demonstration with Kelly, he's realized the part Nori is to play in all of this and assumes she has too. She isn't in her room, and he isn't sure where else she might be. He doesn't like this island base. Too cold and too enclosed. He doesn't think Nori knows her way around it. He decides to go to the workout room to burn off some energy. He finds Toad.
"Want to spar?" Toad asks.
"All right, mon amie, but no tongue."
Toad grins, then abruptly flies at him. He's fast, but so is Gambit. Toad tries to spit in his face, but Gambit manages to hit the spit in mid-air with a charged card. Thank God, he thinks. He's been hit with Toad's slime before and it is one of the most disgusting things he's ever experienced. They start going at each other with staffs. Gambit feels confident. He's been fighting with a staff since he was a boy, and Toad is relatively new to the weapon. But still, Toad is good and Gambit is distracted. Gambit ends up on the ground. Toad opens his mouth, but Gambit manages to flip his legs up and get back on his feet. He charges his staff and gets a good shot at Toad, who groans.
"Game over, mate. Go find your girlfriend."
Gambit shrugs. "Maybe I will. Thanks for the workout." He likes Toad. You know where you stand with him. Gambit goes for a quick shower, then returns to Nori's room to see if she's there. He hears music, which is promising. He knocks, and she calls, "Come in!"
She's sitting on the floor with her legs out in front of her, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hand. It doesn't look terribly comfortable, but he's seen her do weirder things on her yoga mat. "Remy!" she says happily. "I wanted to look for you but I was afraid I'd end up falling into the ocean."
"What were you going to do with me if you found me?"
She laughs. He sits on the ground next to her. "How are you holding up, cherie?"
"I... I don't know. Magneto talked to me this morning. He needs me to help power his machine. Did you know that?"
"I didn't know for sure. But I kinda figured." She leans into him.
"Remy, he told me that if I didn't help him, he was going to kidnap this teenage girl and make her do it. And that she'd probably die."
"He said that?"
She nods. "He showed me her picture."
"I think that he knew you wouldn't let that happen. He knew he wouldn't have to follow through with that."
"But he would have. If I hadn't."
"He would have," he agrees. "It's for the best, cherie. I know it's scary... but think how much better it'll be, for everyone. If all those leaders become mutants."
"Yeah... I get it. I guess... I just didn't really want to have to play a part in it. But I guess I have to commit."
He strokes her hair. "You're doing a good thing."
She turns her head and looks up at him. "Remy...I...I want you to kiss me." Playfully, he kisses her forehead. She wraps her arms around his neck and begins kissing him passionately. She repositions herself so she's straddling him. He gasps and feels himself get hard. He pulls her tighter and returns her kiss. When they come up for her, he asks, "Nori, is this what you want?"
"Yes... I was afraid... I didn't want things to be awkward between us, but..."
He rubs her cheek with his thumb. "Nothing awkward about this, cherie."
They move to the bed, and he's glad. Not that he'd complain, but their difference in height was giving him a neck cramp. He has his hand under her shirt, and she's making small sounds that he loves, but abruptly she pulls away. "What time is it?"
"I don't know."
"I think Magneto's coming. I think we have to leave soon." Her eyes unfocus a little; she's using her power. "He's definitely close. Fuck."
"It's all right, cherie. We'll have plenty of time later."
She laughs. "I feel like we're in high school again."
"That's why I dropped out of high school."
"Why didn't I think of that?"
He kisses her. "My smart girl," he says, just as he hears a knock at the door.
"Echo, time for lunch," Magneto says.
"Okay, coming!" she calls. Gambit smirks and she elbows him. "You're ridiculous. Let's go to lunch."
"Cherie, you know I think you look lovely, but you might want to comb your hair first."
She glances in the bathroom mirror. "Yikes. Thanks for the warning." Her hair's longer now, and she pulls it back in a clip. "Bam, done."
"You go ahead. I have to finish something," he says. She glances at him, grins, and says okay. In the hallway, he hears Magneto ask if Gambit is coming.
"He had to finish something," she says sweetly.
Gambit quickly masturbates in the bathroom. He's pretty sure it would have killed him to sit through lunch like this. He's worried, too. He thinks maybe he loves Nori. But there are things she doesn't know about him. And he's not at all sure she belongs in the Brotherhood. He wonders if he would leave the Brotherhood, for her. He exhales. Don't get ahead of yourself, Remy.
He washes his hands and heads to the dining hall. Sabretooth mutters, "You smell nice, Gambit."
He laughs and says, "I showered today. Thank you for noticing, mon ami." Nori has a small smirk on her face.
"Gambit, I'm glad you could join us," Magneto says.
"Sorry I was late, boss." He holds Magneto's gaze with the faintest hint of challenge.
Magneto waves a hand. "No matter. Today we make final preparations for Liberty Island. There will be increased security for the UN event, so we will stick to carefully targeted areas where we can be sure of overpowering the guards without attracting more. Mystique will talk us though it after lunch."
Gambit nods. Everyone is pretty quiet during the meal, even the usually-chatty Nori.
Afterward, they file into the workout room and Mystique goes over the plan with them once has long known his part, but this is the first time they've seen the whole plan, start to finish. It seems pretty straightforward, until Magneto adds blandly that they might expect interference from the X-Men. "Mystique is leaving shortly to disable Xavier, which will be a help."
Mystique smiles, dangerously.
"The rest of us will leave at sundown. Does anyone have any questions?"
Everyone shakes their heads no. "Take the rest of the afternoon to prepare, then."
He and Nori find each other in the hallway. "You need to prepare, ma mie?"
"I've never gone into battle against the X-Men before," she says breathily. "Do you want to help me get ready?"
"I think that I could show you a few things." They make their way back to Nori's bedroom and pick back up where they were interrupted. Nori is frankly better in bed than he would ever have guessed from her sweet exterior. Maybe he should have guessed... she's always been very physical with him, and she does a lot of yoga. Afterward, she lies with her head on his bare chest and sighs.
"I think I've been waiting for that since the day I met you," she says.
"Oh? Was it worth the wait?"
"I don't know that your ego needs stroking," she says.
"Moi? You are calling me egotistical? Stop, cherie, I am wounded."
She half rolls over and pushes herself up to kiss him gently on the lips. "It was worth the wait, Remy."
"I thought so, too," he says with a satisfied grin.
"Remy, if... if anything happens to me tomorrow-"
"It won't, cherie."
"Shh... if anything does. Will you make sure Magneto sent my letters? To my mom, and to Rachael?"
He looks at her solemnly. "I promise. Je t'aime, Nori."
"Daisuki, Remy." She sighs. "We have a few hours until we have to leave. What should we do?"
He grins. "I can think of a few things..."
She giggles, then gasps as he makes his way under the sheets. Gambit loves making women happy.
Afterwards, he confides, "Between you and me, I think tomorrow might be a pretty rough day. So we should probably try to make today as good as possible, oui?"
"Sounds like a pretty good life philosophy to me," she murmurs.
They lie together for awhile, quietly enjoying each other's presence.
"Cherie?"
"Yes?"
"I have some bad news."
"Yes?"
"I think that it is time for us to get dressed."
"Oh, bother."
"My thoughts exactly," he says. She sits up, reluctantly.
"I'm going to take a quick shower."
"You want help?"
She purses her lips. "How much time do we have?"
He glances at his watch. "Perhaps it is better if I take a cold shower. By myself."
She looks at him fondly. "I'll be quick." She is. She walks back out into her room wrapped in a towel, and Gambit looks at her appreciatively.
"Get in the shower, Remy. I have to pick out my mutant weapon wardrobe."
"You look good in black," he suggests.
They're ready in time, just barely. Mystique flies the helicopter, and everyone is quiet on the ride. Everything goes according to plan, for a while. The human security guards are no trouble. Magneto puts his machine into place with ease. Sabretooth, Gambit, and Echo go with him. Mystique and Toad wait up front to guard against any intruders.
The X-Men make it past Mystique and Toad. Gambit is a little surprised—he's never actually fought them before, and Magneto always talked about them as if they were pushovers. But he supposes they outnumbered Mystique and Toad by far.
He's surprised to see Logan—he remembers him from their attack on Stryker's old base, at Three Mile Island. But, of course, Logan doesn't remember him. Magneto takes quick care of the X-Men, trapping them to the metal walls. He stands behind Magneto, tapping his staff. Sabretooth stalks about, assisting Magneto.
"I've seen Senator Kelly," blurts out Jean Grey. She and Storm tell Magneto about Kelly's death, but Magneto will have none of it.
"Those people down there, they control our fate! And the fate over every other mutant," Magneto says, passionately. "Soon our fates will be theirs."
He floats back up to the machine, where Echo waits. Gambit wonders if what Storm and Jean have said is true. He supposes there isn't really anything he can do if it is.
He thinks about trying to talk to Logan, but figures it isn't really the time. He wonders what happened to Mystique and Toad. He shuffles cards anxiously with his free hand.
"You gonna do a party trick, bub?" Logan calls out.
"You'd better hope I don't have to," he says, laconically. He looks hard at Logan, then away.
Suddenly, Sabretooth is leaping at Logan. It takes Gambit a moment to realize that Logan has somehow freed himself. He thinks about going up to help, but figures he'd better stay down here in case any of the others try something. Besides, Sabretooth should have Logan under control. He's seen them fight before. Momentarily, Sabretooth returns and nods once at Gambit. Good.
But then, Logan jumps back into their small chamber. He grabs Cyclops' visor and before Gambit realizes what's happening, Cyclops has knocked Sabretooth into the water and Logan has freed the other X-Men.
Fuck, he thinks. He hears Echo gasp and starts to see white beams of light coming from the top of the statue.
He tosses cards at all the X-Men, knocking them back. He gracefully leaps up above the chamber, hoping to stand between them and Magneto. He tries to plan a strategy. He does not want to get in the way of Cyclops' beams. He charges his staff and shakes it from hand to hand. If he destroys the statue, Magneto and Echo will fall, and this whole thing will have been for nothing.
The white light is spreading. Logan jumps at him, and Gambit knocks him aside with his staff. But then a red blast hits him in the shoulder, hard enough to knock him off balance, and Gambit falls.
Fuck, he thinks again. He's still conscious when he hits the water, barely. He hates swimming. The water is so cold. He thinks about taking a quick nap. He sees the white light spreading over the ocean. No, no napping now. Focus. He swims back to shore. The helicopter? No, someone's surely found it by now. Just get to shore. Just get out of the water. He suddenly remembers watching Finding Nemo with Nori. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... he laughs. Is he delirious? Keep swimming.
He pulls himself onto shore. He takes stock of himself. He's lost his staff. His clothes are wet. But he's alive, and he still has his powers.
The white light has stopped. What happened? Did it work? Should he wait for Magneto and Echo? He's in a park. He thinks back to the maps they looked at during planning. Liberty State Park? Battery Park? He crawls into some hedges and wraps his coat around himself, and he passes out.
He wakes up at first light and takes stock of his situation. He needs to find out what happened to the others. He tries to get an idea of what's going on around him. He sees a small red-brick building in the distance and decides to investigate. He creeps along within the hedges as best he can.
It's the office for the Jersey City Liberty Island ferry. No tourists seem to be out yet. The parking lot is empty, but there's one night watchman. Gambit silently hits him in the back of the head with a landscaping stone. He's pretty sure the guard will live, and he wonders if he should finish him off. But the guard never saw him. No harm leaving him.
He pockets the guards keys and all the cash from his wallet. He enters the office and pokes around, knocking out two security cameras first. The cash register is empty. He keeps going. He finds a storage room with all kinds of tourist crap. There doesn't seem to be a storefront, but he's sure they make a killing selling to tourists. He grabs some I (Heart) NY paraphanalia and some cheap sunglasses and loses his all-black gear. He cleans himself up in the bathroom and considers his next move. He needs a car. He needs to get out of here. He looks at a map posted in the front office and realizes he's not far from a railroad station. He stealthily heads across the park, and is cheered to see a handful of cars in the parking lot. He casually approaches the car farthest from the station, snaps the car's antenna and uses it to pick the lock. Then he pops the hood, hotwires the car, and drives off before anyone is the wiser. He hopes.
He wishes he hadn't had to snap the antenna, because he can't pick up any radio stations. Fuck, he thinks, again. Where's the nearest Brotherhood safe house? He needs to know the rest of the story, of what happened last night. He needs to eat something.
He stops at a gas station and buys coffee, trail mix, and a newspaper.
"It's awful about what happened at that UN Summit, isn't it?" asks the clerk, a young woman with a thick Jersey accent.
He glances at the newspaper. "'Mutant Attack on UN Summit'," he reads aloud, trying to quash his own accent. "Huh," he adds, disapprovingly.
"You didn't hear about it?"
"I've been driving all night and my car doesn't get radio stations," he says, apologetically.
"Look," she says, tapping the photo of white light spreading over the harbor with one long nail. "Some mutants tried to kill all those UN leaders. Luckily the police stopped them in time."
"Scary," he says, and he is scared. "Well, you have a good day, miss," he says.
"You too. Have a good trip."
He goes back to his car and has to hotwire it again. He sits in it reading the article and drinking the coffee. It says that Magneto has been taken into custody and will face trial, but nothing about the others. He's sure Sabretooth is alive somewhere. He's pretty much indestructible. And Mystique... seems to be able to get out of any scrape. But if they have Magneto, he's sure they have Echo. He thinks they would probably say if she were died, and he suspects the reason she's not mentioned at all in the article is that Stryker took her directly into custody. Fuck.
He decides to head for their safehouse in upstate New York. As far as he knows, it's the closest to Stryker's base, and probably the closest one to where he is now. He drives all morning, and when the car runs out of gas, he steals a new one. He makes it to the safehouse in that car, and abandons it on the outskirts of town. He walks to the house, which he's never been to, but whose location Mystique has forced him to study many times. He silently thanks her for being such a hardass. He even remembers where the key is hidden (fake rock, back door) and lets himself in. The desk in the study has a drawer with a false bottom, which contains fake IDs for all Brotherhood members, cash in a few currency types, and a disposable cell phone. But who can he call?
He showers and eats a can of soup. He realizes his body is hungry, even though he doesn't have much of an appetite, so he eats a can of Spaghetti-Os too. They are disgusting.
He turns on the TV and waits for the local news to come on. He falls asleep in the middle of an inane sitcom and wakes up several hours later. He watches an infomercial for some kind of home fitness system. He catches the morning news and hears nothing new about Magneto or any of the Brotherhood members. He wishes he had a deck of cards, and it occurs to him to check if there are any in the house. He finds some in one of the bedrooms and is feeling pretty pleased with himself when he hears the front door open.
He puts a few cards in his hand and slips down the hallway. A pretty blonde woman of college age is in the kitchen. She seems harmless, but Gambit can't trust her.
"Excuse me," he says, with his best Northern accent. "What are you doing in my house?"
"Oh, now it's your house?" she says, and by the end of her sentence she's no longer blonde. She's Mystique.
"Oh, thank God," he says. "Glad to see you, cher."
She nods. "Have you heard anything from the others?"
"No," he says. "Not much on TV or in the papers, far as I can tell. What happened to Toad?"
"Not sure," she says. "I... missed most of the action." She points to a bandage on her abdomen.
"I saw Sabretooth get knocked off the statue and fall pretty hard. I got knocked off, too, but he got hit by Cyclops at a much closer range. I'm not sure... I'm not sure what happened to him."
"And Magneto has been taken into custody."
"Do you think Echo is with him?"
She shrugs. "It's a good bet that if he survived, so did she. She's probably with Stryker."
"That's what I figured," he says.
"We'll get them back," she says flatly.
"'Course."
He feels better now that Mystique is here. Gambit's a survivor, but Mystique's a strategist. She'll figure something out.
NOTES: Title from "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. I mean, obviously.
